Thursday, July 12, 2012

Alleged Mistreatment of Passenger who is Deaf at Louisville

Following
a National Association of the Deaf (NAD) conference, a passenger who is deaf traveled through Louisville (SDF) and posted a blog about his alleged
experience at the SDF checkpoint and issues with his airline. While the
passenger has since removed the post, he said that he was mistreated by
Transportation Security Officers who he claimed had ridiculed him for being
deaf.

TSA
takes allegations of misconduct seriously. Immediately following a complaint by
the passenger, TSA launched an investigation into the alleged incident, which
included a review of more than 120 hours of CCTV footage from a three-day
period to look for any scenes that matched the information in the blog
post. A close examination of the video during this timeframe indicates
that officers working the checkpoint were professional and appropriate with all
passengers.

Here
are the facts:

TSA
has zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind.

When
TSA found out the NAD conference was coming to Louisville, TSA reached out
to NAD and other members of its disability coalition while Transportation
Security Officers at SDF received additional training on screening deaf
passengers from local experts in the field.

SDF
is a smaller airport with only one checkpoint, which is monitored by
security cameras. Our officers are aware that screening operations are
constantly under video surveillance.

After
a review of the video, TSA found no footage that matches the information
in the blog post, such as Officers removing food during any bag search and
eating it, or anything to indicate that they were pointing at and
ridiculing a passenger.

In
general, candy is not a prohibited item, and would only warrant additional
screening if it alarmed. TSA does not donate surrendered food and drink
items for health and safety reasons.

TSA
works regularly with a broad coalition of disability and medical condition
advocacy groups to help understand their needs and adapt screening procedures
accordingly. Any passengers with disabilities who have questions or concerns
prior to their travel they can contact the TSA Cares Helpline:
1-855-787-2227 (The line is open 8-11 M-F and 9-8 weekends and
holidays. After hours, travelers can find information about traveling with
disabilities and medical needs on TSA’s website. To learn moreclick
here.)

If
a passenger has a problem at a checkpoint, or is displeased with their
checkpoint experience, we strongly recommend that they call a supervisor
immediately or file a complaint with our contact center as soon as possible
after the experience. (TSA Contact Center, 1-866-289-9673 orTSA-ContactCenter@dhs.gov)

You say TSA has Zero Tolerance for disabled people yet I am sure the TSA Agents who made the lil girl, WHO SUFFERS FROM CP, walk without her crutches. How about the person who was attached to a colostomy bag that the TSA agent, who I am sure still works at their airport, caused Urine to be spilled all over the poor soul. Oh yea, some Zero Tolerance TSA has

You were so quick to "explain" this allegation write it off as "false". When are you going to explain the allegation concerning the mishandling of human remains in Orlando. TSA is always so quick to defend themselves when they feel they have proof nothing improper was done but totally disregard instances where TSA really dropped the ball and abused a member of the flying public as was done in Orlando.

There seems to be a pattern with your responses to alleged mistreatment of a passenger. Even before clicking the link in the email, I told my wife you were gonna say that TSA agents acted appropriately and, sure enough, that's what I read.

Tell me, is there anything that a TSA agent can do wrong? I mean, at the terminal; Not when they are downloading child porn at home.

Most of the regular posters here will choose to not believe what you have told them, but I would like to extend a "thanks" to those folks out there in Louisville for all the additional effort they made to make their part of the SDF’s conference a success.

As a side comment, I believe it’s quite sad that an individual with such a disability would use that disability to attempt to formant hostility towards a group of people who went to the lengths they did to help the hearing impaired community. Sad indeed.

Stop acting like cry babies people and "Nut" up, you people are so very silly it isn't funny anymore.

I fly into Philadelphia and Newark four times a month, the Officers act professionally and take their jobs very seriously, which is "exactly" the point. Would you prefer the alternative? show your kids how responcible adults act! grow up..

The screeners in this case were "professional and appropriate" because their profession allows them to take whatever they want from people and say whatever they want to intimidate people. Taking the man's candy and calling him a name are clearly within the bounds of the TSA's definition for "professional and appropriate.

«At 4:00PM, I finally got to the front of the line and as expected my knee braces set off the metal detector. I stood and waited to be patted down longer than I've waited at other airports. I was swabbed and the guard looked confused as she fiddled with the substance tester. I was forced to continue standing. It was clear that she did not know how to operate the machine. She finally said she received an alert and called for another person to deal with it.

The security people disappeared for long periods of time. When they were there, they did very little testing of my belongings and a lot of provoking and taunting. The guard testing my belongings babbled incessantly. The supervisor told the person who was testing my belongings to quit bumping me, and the guard actually bumped me right in front of him. The supervisor of the supervisor showed up and the guard finally quit babbling and started testing my belongings. My canes were not substance tested even though I offered them to the guard. I left the security checkpoint at 5:10 PM.

I was in excruciating pain by the time I boarded the plane and could not walk the next day. Boston needs a secure airport staffed by competent professionals.»

So you had 120 hours of CCTV footage to review on this case, but you had no video footage of the cremated remains spilling incident last week? That just doesn't seem possible. It makes me wonder if there was footage of the TSA acting inappropriately in this case, if that footage would have been "lost". One thing you could do in this case is post the footage of the passenger going through the checkpoint. Let us see if the candy was confiscated.

"... Would you prefer the alternative? show your kids how responcible adults act! grow up.."

First, yes I would prefer the alternative. I would even prefer not having anything more than a walk-through metal detector and baggage x-ray.

Then to your comments about showing kids and responsibility... I do that every day. I very regularly show my kids that the Rights protected by the Constitution and Bill of Rights are very important and it will be their responsibility to protect when they are old enough. It is very irresponsible to think anyone else is going to do it for them. You certainly aren't doing anything to protect our rights as Citizens.

Why is it, exactly, that there's only video available when the TSA determines that the video depicts it favorably? And why is it that, despite 120 hours of video being available here, there wasn't a second available to examine the desecrated remains at MCO?

"Our officers are aware that screening operations are constantly under video surveillance."

Then how is it there are 120 hours of footage of this incident but none of the crematory remains incident? Or is it they're only constantly under surveillance when the video proves your side of the story?

TSORon said...

"Most of the regular posters here will choose to not believe what you have told them, but I would like to extend a "thanks" to those folks out there in Louisville for all the additional effort they made to make their part of the SDF’s conference a success."

You know what they say happens when you assume? ;) Also, TSA had nothing to do with the success of the NAB conference. You just made travel for the participants more of a hassle than they needed to be (even without this incident being true).

"After a review of the video, TSA found no footage that matches the information in the blog post, such as Officers removing food during any bag search and eating it, or anything to indicate that they were pointing at and ridiculing a passenger."

From our own investgation, your statement of "facts" in the article is demonstrably false:

When TSA found out the NAD conference was coming to Louisville, TSA reached out to NAD and other members of its disability coalition while Transportation Security Officers at SDF received additional training on screening deaf passengers from local experts in the field.

As part of the planning process for HLAA, NAD, ALDA and AGBell national Conventions, one of the contractural responsibilities of the local Convention bureau is to provide training sessions to the hospitality industry and airports, so that incidents such as what is alleged do not occur.

In our communications with the Louisville Convention & Visitor's Bureau, we found they offered ADA Sensitivity training twice on May 9th:

Both seminars were heavily attended by Louisville’s hospitality partners. Speakers included: Anita Dowd and Rachel Rodgers, with the Kentucky Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, as well as Gary Mudd and Roberta Williams, with the American Printing House for the Blind.

Representatives from the Louisville Regional Airport Authority were invited to attend this complimentary seminar and two LRAA staff RSVP’d that they would be there. However, according to LCVB, attendance was not recorded at the event because it was a free training session.

Under the FOIA, please provide us with a list of TSA screeners who attended the May 9th LVCB ADA training sessions. Yo can forward this to me via e-mail at Dan@Snip.Net

Finally, out of his rational fear of retaliation by the TSA &/or other Federal agencies, the victim, NAD Member "Tea & Theater," removed his entire blog after his incident became widely publicized; and our attempts to rwch him through the Deaf community have been fruitless. However, here is a cached version of his article describing his treatment:http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ateaandtheatre.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F26846647001

I've seen numerous posts from Bob responding to alleged incidents of TSA misconduct. When he recites the authorized version of the "facts," the TSA's self-investigation always finds one of two things: The incident did not happen, implying that the passenger is a liar. Or if the incident did happen, everyone in the TSA acted properly, implying that it was the passenger who acted improperly to cause the incident.

There are two possibilities: TSA employees indeed always act properly. Or else the TSA's "investigations" are biased; if they're conducted at all, they're intended only to find grounds for denying or defending whatever the TSA employees did.

The actual investigation report and records are conveniently unavailable to the public. The procedures under which the TSA investigates itself are also unavailable, and probably SSI. That makes it impossible to know whether the TSA conducted a thorough, impartial investigation of itself. Or whether they even conducted an investigation at all. We're just supposed to trust that Bob is telling us the truth when he gives us the "facts."

It's a basic principle of investigation or auditing that the investigator or auditor needs to be impartial. That usually means the investigator is outside organization being reviewed. Otherwise the credibility of the result is inherently suspect. Thus, when the TSA investigates itself, that investigation is inherently suspect. When the TSA's self-investigations always exonerate the TSA, any investigation they do is even more suspect. When the self-investigations occur within an agency that has earned a reputation for untruthfulness, arrogance, and utter contempt for the public, it becomes impossible to believe anything they label as "facts."

Therefore, this is the only conclusion we can make: The reported incident at Louisville may or may not have happened. The TSA's investigators may or may not have reviewed the tapes. They may or may not have found evidence of the alleged misconduct. The only thing we can be certain of is that the TSA is doing everything possible to ensure that we can never know the actual "facts" of what happened.

Given the reputation the TSA has earned based on its deplorable track record, reports of TSO misconduct are more credible than any secretive self-investigations that always result in the TSA's favor. Until the TSA takes transparent measures to improve their credibility, official statements about their "investigations" are not believable. The worst thing is that John Pistole and his leadership team apparently don't consider their agency's lack of credibility a problem.

Our officers are aware that screening operations are constantly under video surveillance.

So where was the video surveillance in the baggage screening rooms at LAX, where two separate groups of screeners took bribes to allow drug-filled bags to get through security? Where were the supervisors and managers during all those months when the drug smuggling went on right under their noses?

Why is the TSA ignoring the grave failures that these incidents indicate, and the severe damage they cause to the TSA's already strained credibility?

That is probably an accurate statement of official TSA policy. It's probably even written down somewhere, although that document is surely SSI.

The TSA may have zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind. But they have unlimited tolerance for officers who don't know the policies, who don't understand the policies, or who choose to ignore the policies because they know they face no consequences for doing so.

If an officer commits misconduct serious enough for the victims to publicize and embarrass the TSA, they know their bosses will stand behind them. They know Bob will come up with a post that denies or defends their misconduct and blames the passenger. They know that the TSA's most important policy is to refuse to admit even the possibility of error. That means errors can occur regularly, and the TSA will sweep them under the rug.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter what the policies say. It doesn't matter what Bob repeatedly insists should happen. The procedures, rules, and restrictions are whatever the TSO who screens you decides they are at the moment you submit to their screening. If you commit the inexcusable offense of questioning their authority, they are trained to respond with the TSA's official motto, "Do you want to fly today?"

That's why so many people despise and distrust the TSA. It's also why we can't believe any "facts" from the TSA in response to reports of misconduct. The TSA long ago exhausted all its credibility.

From our own investgation, your statement of "facts" in the article is demonstrably false:

When TSA found out the NAD conference was coming to Louisville, TSA reached out to NAD and other members of its disability coalition while Transportation Security Officers at SDF received additional training on screening deaf passengers from local experts in the field.

As part of the planning process for HLAA, NAD, ALDA and AGBell national Conventions, one of the contractural responsibilities of the local Convention bureau is to provide training sessions to the hospitality industry and airports, so that incidents such as what is alleged do not occur.

In our communications with the Louisville Convention & Visitor's Bureau, we found they offered ADA Sensitivity training twice on May 9th:

Both seminars were heavily attended by Louisville’s hospitality partners. Speakers included: Anita Dowd and Rachel Rodgers, with the Kentucky Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, as well as Gary Mudd and Roberta Williams, with the American Printing House for the Blind.

Representatives from the Louisville Regional Airport Authority were invited to attend this complimentary seminar and two LRAA staff RSVP’d that they would be there. However, according to LCVB, attendance was not recorded at the event because it was a free training session.

Under the FOIA, please provide us with a list of TSA screeners who attended the May 9th LVCB ADA training sessions. Yo can forward this to me via e-mail at Dan@Snip.Net

Finally, out of his rational fear of retaliation by the TSA &/or other Federal agencies, the victim, NAD Member "Tea & Theater," removed his entire blog after his incident became widely publicized; and our attempts to rwch him through the Deaf community have been fruitless. However, here is a cached version of his article describing his treatment: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ateaandtheatre.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F26​846647001

I won't comment on what may or may not have happened at the airport, but I do need to stress something you said in your response. You refer to the NAD as a "disability coalition". That is a huge mistake that shows your ignorance of the Deaf community. Deaf people do not consider themselves to be 'disabled', and I am one hearing person who happens to agree. It's all too common that hearing people make mistakes like this all the time, and have no idea of the consequences of such a reference. It's this kind of ignorance that fuels Audism and keeps Deaf people oppressed. You could be responsible enough as a government agency to have some trainings provided by culturally deaf people to help yourselves and your employees gain a better understanding of Deaf culture and it's community, and the meaning of the word 'Audism'. When someone who represents your agency by referring to Deaf people as 'disabled' it looks bad on the entire agency from the very top down. If you want Deaf people to believe you when you say nothing inappropriate happened, the least you could do is address them with respect.

It has come to many people's attention that there are comments questioning the validity of your post and since you have not posted these comments, it begs the question of the integrity and transparency of TSA. Come on. Post it, baby, post it!

I absolutely believe the TSA...not because of their honesty but because of the DISHONESTY that is clear in the other side of the story. No one outside the Deaf community knows the word "deafie", so why on earth would a TSA agent choose to use that particular word? It just didn't happen. There are plenty of Deaf people who live their lives as victims and feel the need start drama everywhere they go.

Look, Bob. I believe you. I don't that what was alleged actually happened in this case. However, my parents always told me that you are your reputation. If you get a reputation as a liar, everyone will always believe the other guy.

If everyone believes that the abuse took place, despite evidence to the contrary, you have no one to blame but yourselves, given your history of being dishonest in the past. As just one recent example- http://tsaoutofourpants.wordpress.com/2012/06/07/tsa-fll-airport-admit-lying-in-foia-response-say-they-can/

I agree his story is probably embelished, but I suspect it was triggered by an officer deciding against the rules to confiscate candy. We know these episodes happen all the time, and in the absence of a direct denial of this in the blog post, I have to assume that is what happened.

Bob,I wish the situation would have gone better. Did the passenger only read lips or did he use American Sign Language, too? I think things would have been better if the officers could have engaged him using his language.

There was an officer there that used ASL. She was helping many deaf people communicate with the other officers. That is why I have a hard time believing this guy's story. If you read his entire blog post he states that later on at the gate that a random passenger called him the same name!

On May 9, the TSA Customer Support Manager from SDF attended the training which was off site, downtown & geared more towards the Hospitality industry. She was invited by the airport authority. It was not conducive to have our TSOs attend due to the transportation and operational challenges. The airport authority coordinated to have an organization rep give the training at the airport for the airport community to include TSA. This second session was held at the airport on June 18. Due to operational needs, it wasn’t possible for all employees to attend, so notes were taken and briefed to the workforce during shift briefings. The notes were also posted for all too read at lanes and podiums.

A TSA Public Affairs Officer said: "Officers at SDF received additional training on screening deaf passengers from local experts in the field."

The same TSA Public Affairs Officer said: "Due to operational needs, it wasn’t possible for all employees to attend, so notes were taken and briefed to the workforce during shift briefings. The notes were also posted for all too read at lanes and podiums."

"She was invited by the airport authority" doesn't fit any reasonable definition of: "When TSA found out the NAD conference was coming to Louisville, TSA reached out to NAD and other members of its disability coalition..."

I suspect you expected us to believe it until Mr. Schwartz ruined your day. You were so obviously flustered that you had a rough time with the word "to."

Speaking of medical conditions that make traveling difficult at times, I wear an insulin pump and the manufacturer told me not to go through the body scanners. At some airports I can observe the checkpoint and pick a metal detector only line. If not, I have to opt out and receive a patdown.

Sometimes I get a quick patdown which would probably detect 99% of any weapons being carried. Other times, I get an invasive patdown that includes repeated genital contact, hands in my waistband, and pawing through my 1/2" long hair. I feel I'm being punished for opting out of the scanner. I have no choice because I'm not risking my expensive life sustaining medical device.

Are there any plans to help people wearing insulin pumps get through security without resorting to invasive patdowns? I'm willing to walk through the metal detectors. I'm willing to have my pump swabbed for explosives. If I could disconnect my pump and place it someplace safe, I would go through the body scanner. I'm just tired of getting groped and fondled for wearing an insulin pump.

Question for GSOLTSO. Does TSA have a policy that states TSA employees can't steal from passengers or something to that effect? If so, like many other TSA policies, it doesn't seem to have any impact of TSA employees. A reasonable person would be wondering just why TSA can't enforce standing policies on its workforce.

No, the other commenter was correct the first time. Speaking from experience, TSA has NO tolerance for the disabled.

BTW, just read the article about TSA allowing 25 illegals to take flying lessons at a place owned by an illegal. While you treat those of us who are playing by the rules like dirt under your feet, the law breakers get flying lessons?

Is this true? If so, sounds like grounds for a discrimination suit to me........(as I NEVER received a response from a serious complaint I made..repeatedly... a few years back.)

RB sez - "Does TSA have a policy that states TSA employees can't steal from passengers or something to that effect?"

Yes, Organizational SOP along with both local and federal laws prohibit such activity in any way shape or form. I wish that we didn't have any employees that steal, but the sad fact is that some of them have done it, and some of them will probably do it in the future. I hope that each and every one of them get caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I also hope that if an employee is falsely accused of this behavior, that they are aquitted and vindicated with the same zeal.

GSOLTSO said...RB sez - "Does TSA have a policy that states TSA employees can't steal from passengers or something to that effect?"

Yes, Organizational SOP along with both local and federal laws prohibit such activity in any way shape or form. I wish that we didn't have any employees that steal, but the sad fact is that some of them have done it, and some of them will probably do it in the future. I hope that each and every one of them get caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I also hope that if an employee is falsely accused of this behavior, that they are aquitted and vindicated with the same zeal.

WestTSA Blog Team

July 19, 2012 5:04 AM..............

So what I understand then is that TSA policies are worth the paper they are written on.

A policy is not more useful than the implementation of that policy.

TSA screeners are so poorly trained and poorly supervised that TSA might as well have no policies since any TSA employee can abuse the public with little or no consequences.

"They had physically stripped her and saw the tube coming out of her stomach, and they decided that they needed to check it for explosives, so they had to physically handle the tube," John Deaton said.

Besides handling the tube, agents swabbed it for bomb-making material, Melinda Deaton said. Her husband said it put his wife at risk of infection.

"Any time you put a harsh substance on it, you run the risk of contamination," he said. "They put stuff on there that we don't know what it is and identify. She has a weak immune system as part of her medical condition, and it can be very fatal to her."

"Yes, Organizational SOP along with both local and federal laws prohibit such activity in any way shape or form. I wish that we didn't have any employees that steal, but the sad fact is that some of them have done it, and some of them will probably do it in the future. I hope that each and every one of them get caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

"Based upon the review of the video, per the original blog post, we can find no footage that matches the claims made in the blog post."

What did the screeners say? It is interesting to note that your screeners could have admitted stealing the candy and your statement might still be accurate? How about non-screener witnesses? Did the deaf man receive aid from someone trained to assist the hearing impaired? It would certainly appear that the man was bullied by the screeners; that makes stealing his candy pale in comparison. I note your statement makes no representation about bad behaviour on the part of TSA employees. Why is that?

Release the video. It's taken in a public area with signs that warn electronic surveillance is in place so there's no expectation of privacy and no legal reason to prevent releasing the video. Please let us know on what basis the video is being embargoed. It is likely that it could be recovered with a FOIA request to the airport authority. Does the video still exist? If not, what review did the TSA undertake to determine that its destruction complied with Federal law and/or did not obstruct justice?

"Actually, we said we have zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind."

Really? You wouldn't subject criminals to discrimination? Would you hire a mentally ill person to be a screener? Would you hire a person in a coma to be the Director of the TSA? If you can answer "no" to any of these questions, you discriminate.

Clearly you don't discriminate on the inability of your employees to do their jobs - it's virtually impossible to be fired for mere incompetence. You do discriminate against passengers based on age; young and old don't, for instance, have to remove their shoes while those of us between the cutoff ages do.

I fly about 50,000 miles each year and other than some variations on iPads vs laptops being screened separately I've always found the TSA in Atlanta to be very professional and efficient. Screening so many people each year there is bound to be some issues but I look at it as a price for doing business.

"BTW, just read the article about TSA allowing 25 illegals to take flying lessons at a place owned by an illegal. While you treat those of us who are playing by the rules like dirt under your feet, the law breakers get flying lessons? "

Yes, Organizational SOP along with both local and federal laws prohibit such activity in any way shape or form. I wish that we didn't have any employees that steal, but the sad fact is that some of them have done it, and some of them will probably do it in the future. I hope that each and every one of them get caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

OF course you found that proper procedures were followed.I can safely predict that you will find the same thing in the incident involving the woman who alleges she was strip searched and her feeding tone handled.

"TSA spokesman Luis Casanova would not comment on what chemicals were on the swabs but did say that touching the device is not supposed to happen."

"The TSA issued a statement Thursday that said:"TSA's mission is to safely, efficiently and respectfully screen nearly 2 million passengers each day at airports nationwide. We are sensitive to the concerns of passengers and we invite those individuals to provide feedback to TSA through a variety of channels. In this specific incident, an investigation was initiated and it was determined that the Transportation Security Officer (TSO) followed standard operating procedures conducted in the presence of a Supervisor TSO. We take the professionalism of our workforce and the integrity of our security procedures very seriously and will address any alleged issues directly with the passenger."

"Yes, Organizational SOP along with both local and federal laws prohibit such activity in any way shape or form."

West, this is a silly and almost certainly false statement. Are you actually telling us that the TSA "SOP" specifically says that stealing is not part of the "organization's standard operating procedure?" I sincerely doubt that but if the SOP does state such a thing, what else is specifically mentioned? Does it state that screeners are not allowed to shoot and stab passengers? How about stealing the identities of passngers? Does the SOP state that screeners can't hijack aircraft?

It would be highly unusual for an SOP to state that violating state and Federal law is not SOP but the TSA is a poorly led, poorly run organization so I guess I wouldn't be overly surprised.

"Wanna fly without going through the trouble of airport security?Ride horses and learn show jumping!"

Or you could just become rich and charter airplanes. The TSA originally intended to impose its brand of "security" on private aircraft but the rich people who fly on those aircraft got in touch with Washington and ended that on short order. Just another example of TSA's lack of committment to security; does anyone truly question the damage a 100000 lb + aircraft could do? Many such aircraft are heavier and faster than passenger airliners.

"As a side comment, I believe it’s quite sad that an individual with such a disability would use that disability to attempt to formant hostility towards a group of people who went to the lengths they did to help the hearing impaired community. Sad indeed."

And I believe it's quite sad that a screener would accuse a disabled person (and yes, I realize the deaf don't consider themselves disabled) of misconduct to cover screener misconduct.

Quoting Anonymous " The TSA originally intended to impose its brand of "security" on private aircraft but the rich people who fly on those aircraft got in touch with Washington and ended that on short order. . .does anyone truly question the damage a 100000 lb + aircraft could do?"

Clearly we're drifting far off topic here. I own an airplane, it weighs 2300 pounds fully loaded. That is less than most cars. A Ryder truck can do far more damage with far less hurdles. If TSA had to be implemented at every airport regardless of size most small towns would close their airport. It may seem shocking but most airports don't even have a control tower. We may think of an airport being major infrastructure with huge airliners. There are far more airports that are little more than a few thousand feet of runway with some small planes on the ramp. That becomes a big money loser if it needs to have a dedicated TSA staff 24/7. I can think of several companies that are based in rural communities, close the airport and let's see if they don't decide to relocate to a bigger city. It still wouldn’t remove the “threat” because I can think of numerous roads and open fields, especially in rural farming regions, that a small plane can take off and land on without anyone knowing. Besides you could use the same logic to say TSA should set up checkpoints at every freeway entrance. We need to be safe from those Ryder trucks don't we? Or we accept there's a distinction between driving or flying a personal vehicle vs. being a passenger on one for hire with strangers.

Way off topic. As a 5000+ hr ATP, I'm not particularly concerned about aircraft as small as yours, althought the TSA is - there are occasional panics about using cropdusters. But, as you more or less reference, the TSA has decided that since it doesn't have enough workers to track those down, it will ignore them. For entirely different reasons, the TSA has decided it "can't" impose its brand of security on 170000 lb airplanes like the BBJ that can be chartered by anyone who can pay for it.

Sad, really, as it indicates the theatrical farce the TSA has engaged in.

"TSA has zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind." - apologies for my straightforward opinion, but this is a slogan. Each time you take action you weight its costs versus its benefits - there's no exception to that rule. Thus, if you believe that the benefit from making right move is too small comparing to what you can get, in most cases you won't apply "zero tolerance" rule even though it's obligatory